ADDED 02/09/2019
FROM 02/05/2019 | The Conversation
BY Richard Carney
Russia’s successful interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election may inspire other countries to do the same. These other countries don’t look threatening. They look like democracies. But they’re not. They’re a special kind of autocratic regime that masquerades as a democracy. And what looks like benevolent conduct by these countries can quickly change into aggressive, […]
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ADDED 02/09/2019
FROM 02/09/2019 | Red Pepper
BY Gabriel Levy
Evidence that anti-fascist activists were tortured by Russian federal security officers is “really disturbing”, president Vladimir Putin told the Kremlin’s own human rights council in December. He promised to “look into it”. But ten of the young activists in question remain in detention awaiting trial in the “Network” case, charged with organising a terrorist group and illegal possession […]
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ADDED 01/31/2019
FROM 01/30/2019 | Hill Reporter
BY Ollie Ward
A cache of hacked emails revealed that a senior figure in the Bradley Foundation, a prominent financier of right-wing groups in the US, attended a gala alongside Russian oligarchs and officials shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. The Daily Beast reported that a new leak site called Distributed Denial of Secrets hacked the […]
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ADDED 10/07/2018
FROM 10/07/2018 | Ozy
BY Nick Fouriezos
Atop multicolored motorcycles, nationalist Night Wolves bikers revved their engines outside the Russian embassy in Bratislava before driving 44 miles to establish their newest European base — in Dolna Krupa, a village in Slovakia, the former Eastern bloc nation that in the years since the Berlin Wall fell had mostly escaped Russia’s interference. Their muffler-marked arrival in […]
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ADDED 08/24/2018
FROM 08/24/2018 | Open Society Foundation
BY Adam Hug
It will come as no surprise that the post-Soviet space is facing the same challenges around the rise of populism and nationalism that are taking place across the world, nor that it faces some particular issues of its own. In its recent report The Rise of Illiberal Civil Society in the Former Soviet Union?, the Foreign Policy Centre brought […]
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ADDED 08/07/2018
FROM 08/07/2018 | Real Clear Politics
BY Daniel J. Mahoney
The time has arrived for some moderation and clarity in thinking about contemporary Russia and its relationship to the Western world. Ronald Reagan was not wrong in the 1980s to call the Soviet Union an “evil empire.” Its death in 1991 was a welcome victory for liberty, peace, and political civilization. But post-communist Russia is […]
see sourceADDED 08/06/2018
FROM 08/04/2018 | Raw Story
BY TOM BOGGIONI
Appearing on MSNBC on Saturday morning, authoritarian expert Sarah Kendzior expressed worry about the upcoming midterm elections, casting doubt of election security at the polls as the Russians continue their hacking attempts. Speaking with AM Joy host Joy Reid, Kenzior explained hacking is “still directly focused on Democrats.” “People are not worried enough,” she explained. […]
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ADDED 07/21/2018
FROM 07/21/2018 | Boing Boing
BY CORY DOCTOROW
A new report from the Institute For the Future on “state-sponsored trolling” documents the rise and rise of government-backed troll armies who terrorize journalists and opposition figures with seemingly endless waves of individuals who bombard their targets with vile vitriol, from racial slurs to rape threats. The report traces the origin of the phenomenon to a series […]
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ADDED 05/06/2018
FROM 05/06/2018 | The Arab Weekly
BY Oussama Romdhani
Jihadist terrorism, in particular, can lower citizens’ expectations in Western democracies and make all kinds of concessions palatable. While hopeful voters headed to the ballot boxes in a number of Arab countries, politicians and pundits around the world, especially in the West, voiced concern that liberal democratic ideals are under assault. Alluding to the growing […]
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ADDED 05/06/2018
FROM 05/05/2018 | News Click
BY Pavan Kulkarni
After rallying tens of thousands to force the ex-Prime Minister to resign, Nikol Pashinyan is now likely to take power as the interim PM on May 8. The uprising that has been ongoing in Armenia since last month seems to be on the verge of clinching a victory, after the ruling Republican Party of Armenia […]
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ADDED 04/27/2018
FROM | Kyiv Post
BY Open Democracy
Since autumn 2017, the Russian security services have been arresting anarchists and anti-fascists across the country. They’re suspected of being part of a terrorist organisation called “The Network”. Detainees complain that they have been tortured, and rights advocates believe the case is fabricated. The FSB’s version According to the investigation’s case, the FSB foiled the activities of “The Network” terrorist […]
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